City all prepared for Durga Puja celebrations

PREPARATIONS FOR Durga Puja, one of the most celebrated Hindu festivals, are going on in full swing in the city, especially among the Bengali community residing here.

The Bengali Association will have Durga Puja celebrations at Parshuram Bhawan, Sector 37, from October 1 and will continue till October 9. On October 9 Lakshmi Puja will be organised. Colourful cultural programmes will also be presented on the occasion.

Similarly, the Durga Puja celebrations at Kali Bari Temple, Sector 47, will also be held and preparations are going in this temple since the last month. The celebrations will start here on October 1 and conclude on October 9.

Durga Puja is celebrated all over India in the autumn for nine days. The festival starts on the day of Mahalaya and then there is Sashthi Puja, Saptami Puja, Ashtami Puja, Navmi Puja and Dashmi or the Bijoy Dashmi Puja.

The main attraction of the puja will be the beautiful idols of Durga that have been crafted with care and reverence. In city, the work of idols preparation has been going since days in advance. One such Bengali artist, Khokhan Adhikari, and his team busy in preparing the idols said they have used special soil for the puja that has been brought from The Ganga. “We mix this sacred soil with other ingredients,” the artist said.

He said he has got number of orders for the puja and his biggest assignment this time was a 13-feet high Durga idol, which was Rs 11,000. “Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh flank the most sets of Durga idols, as all of them are believed to be her children. In these idols the Goddess Durga is shown as stabbing the asura, the demon. This is symbolic of victory of good over evil. These idols are immersed on the concluding day of the puja,” he said.